A tool is used to selectively produce an item or object and, as used throughout this description, the term “tool” should be interpreted in the broadest manner possible and should not be limited to an exact configuration or type of configuration or to a certain tool assembly which is adapted to produce only a certain item/object or a certain class of items or objects.
Traditionally, a tool has been produced from a substantially solid block of material (i.e., by burning, cutting, or otherwise “working” the material in a certain manner). While the foregoing approach does allow a tool to be selectively produced, this traditional strategy or technique is highly inefficient and costly.
To overcome these drawbacks, a lamination technique/strategy has been developed and is set forth, for example and without limitation, within U.S. Pat. No. 6,587,742 (“The ′742 Patent”), which is assigned to Applicant's assignee, which issued on Jul. 1, 2003, and which is fully and completely incorporated herein by reference, word for word and paragraph for paragraph.
Particularly, the foregoing lamination strategy involves the creation of a “soft tool design” (i.e., the tool is initially designed within a software environment) The soft design is then used to create physical tangible sectional members which are coupled and thereafter cooperatively form the tool. Such an approach is highly efficient and dramatically reduces the cost associated with prior tool production strategies and techniques.
Regardless of the technique or method for producing a tool, oftentimes the produced item is damaged by stress caused by the tool production operation (i.e., often referred to as “molded stress”). To alleviate this stress, oftentimes the “cycle time” or part/object production time is undesirably increased, thereby causing the object/item production or tooling operation to be relatively inefficient.
There is therefore a need for a new and improved tool and a method for producing a tool having enhanced cooling characteristics in order to overcome the foregoing drawbacks associated with prior tools and methods and Applicant has discovered that the lamination tool production strategy lends itself very well to the production of such a tool and to a tool producing method.